Ayurveda’s Way To A Beautiful Face Every Day.
THERE'S NO GETTING AROUND IT: NO MATTER WHAT YOUR age, the skin on your face is often the most troublesome. And as time goes by, it betrays your age. Because your complexion requires more attention and tender loving care than the skin on your body, the beauty program is devoted to facial care, and in this blog, you learn how to choose what ayurveda beauty product I use in my practice and where to buy on amazon or make your own skin products and use them so you can then incorporate them into your daily regimen.
Skin problems and needs vary according to the doshas. In this blog, you'll learn how to make your own delightfully sensual and fragrant beauty products from fresh natural ingredients, and then how to use them in your daily Skin Care Routine. For a more luxurious, elaborate facial you will learn in the next blog "Once-a-Month Spa Program," which includes scrubs, medicated massage oils, and facial masks, again tailored to your particular type of skin. In this blog, you'll also find suggestions for treating the most common complexion problems: excessively dry skin, wrinkles and lines, and very oily or blemished skin.
Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It is also quite complex. The epidermis is the outermost part and is made of layers of cells, the deepest layer of which, the basal cells, are always dividing. As they reproduce, the plump,fluid-filled cells push up toward the surface, replacing the dead, dried-outskin cells of the uppermost layer. The dermis, the middle part, contains collagen and elastin—protein fibers that inhabit the dermis like a mesh netting. This network of fibers is what supplies your skin with most of its strength and elasticity—the ability to withstand all the pulling and stretching it undergoes as we smile, frown, laugh, cry, and live under gravity's pull. Sweat and sebum together form your skin's "acid mande." This thin film protects against bacteria and infection, retains moisture, and lubricates the skin surface. The deepest part of the skin, the subcutaneous tissue, is a network of fibers intertwined with deposits of fat. Your face and neck have very little or none of this type of tissue. Ayurveda works on all these layers of skin, from the inside out and the outside in.
Skin care program, set aside time to know your dosha by taking the self-test. Or go check out my youtube channel, DrHelenMaryThomasDC and watch the featured video, and the recommended video at the end of it will give a quick insight to understand what dosha you are. Then choose your basic daily routine based on your predominant dosha. FYI, a quick shortcut for identifying your dosha body type: Vata body types have dry skin, Pitta body types get red, inflamed skin, and red pimples, and Kapha body types get thick white blemishes, and blackheads, boils, lipomas and cyst.
The following Daily Skin Care Routines are designed to counteract the everyday effects of stress, the environment and time on your skin so that you can maintain what you have and relieve minor problems. Give these routines at least three to four weeks before judging their effectiveness, because skin needs 21 to 28 days to renew itself. The routines contain only two steps and require only two cosmetic formulas: a cleanser/exfoliate and a moisturizer/nourisher.
Commercial Ayurvedic skin care products are available at link but we feel that one of the most pleasurable aspects of Ayurvedic skin care is making your own cleansers, scrubs and moisturizers. It's also fun to find special containers to store them in.
A word about the ingredients: The ingredients are prescribed for how their taste and other attributes affect your vata dosha. The ingredients called for in the recipes are made of food and food products: herbs, flowers, and essential oils; vegetables oils, water, milk, cream, yogurt, and honey; powdered grains and nuts; fresh fruits and vegetables. Most of them are available in health food stores and Indian groceries; those not available in your area may be ordered from the resources section at the end of this guide.
Remember, just because something is natural, it doesn't mean it's hypoallergenic, as anyone allergic to pollen can attest. If you tend towards allergies, do a sensitivity test before using any of the formulas recommended here. Make the skin care product, following the recipe, and apply a small amount to the inside of your elbow or forearm. Leave it on for twenty-four hours--if you do not see a reaction, you can safely use the formula. If you do notice a rash, you can test each ingredient separately (mix herbal powders with water to form a paste, and dilute essential oils with a base oil) and, once you've determined the culprit, eliminate it from the formula. For detailed information about the key ingredients, please turn to the glossary in the appendix.
Cleansing and Exfoliating
The road to healthy, radiant skin begins with proper cleansing. Every day, you need to keep pores unclogged and remove makeup, dirt, pollutants, bacteria, sweat, and waste products that are eliminated through the skin. The catch is, you need to accomplish this without also removing your skin's natural oils and moisture (acid mantle).
In the Basic Daily Routines, we provide you with formulas for cleansers/exfoliants individualized to the three doshas. All are based on the following Master Formulas, which you vary as instructed for your dosha. We provide formulas for Ubtans (EWB-tans), herbal powders that are traditionally Ayurvedic. We also provide a simpler version, which we call a "Simple Cleanser"--to make it, all you need is chickpea flour and turmeric.
I've found that the soft powdery chickpea flour has just the right amount of abrasiveness for gentle daily exfoliation of dead cell build-up, and the turmeric is antibacterial to help unclog pores. This "Simpler Cleanser" will leave your skin with silky smooth softness, not dry or irritated, and impart a subtle golden glow. For those who prefer the feel of an oil-based product, we also provide formulas for a "Creamy Cleanser."
THE PROBLEM WITH COMMERCIAL CLEANSERS
Most commercial soaps and cleansers are too harsh and dry, and they tip your acid mantle's balance from acid to alkaline.
<v>This is harmful to all skin types, but especially your vata skin which is already prone to dryness.<v>
<p>This is harmful to all skin types, but especially for your pitta skin which is already sensitive.</p>
Because of your kapha dosha, you need to be careful. Your oily skin may be spurring you to scrub away as much oil as possible to avoid breakouts. When you remove your natural lubricating and anti-bacterial layer, your skin reacts by producing more oil. Over-cleansing also removes the acid mantle, your skin's natural shield against infection. The overgrowth of harmful bacteria is one of the main culprits of pimples and blackheads. As a result, overzealous cleansing can worsen the acne rather than improve it.
This is harmful to all skin types, but especially your vata skin which is already prone to dryness.
Also, because of your kapha dosha you need to be careful. Your oily skin may be spurring you to scrub away as much oil as possible to avoid breakouts. When you remove your natural lubricating and anti-bacterial layer, your skin reacts by producing more oil. Over-cleansing also removes the acid mantle, your skin's natural shield against infection. The overgrowth of harmful bacteria is one of the main culprits of pimples and blackheads. As a result, overzealous cleansing can worsen the acne rather than improve it. This is harmful to all skin types, but especially for your vata nature which makes you already dry, and your pitta skin which is already sensitive.
This is harmful to all skin types, but especially for your pitta skin which is already sensitive.
Moisturizing and Nourishing
The most important thing to understand about moisturizing is that "moisture" refers to water. What we call "moisturizers" are in essence a mixture of water, which supplies the skin with moisture, and oil, which prevents the water from being drawn out of your skin by dry air, wind, and other elements. Moisturizers also minimize the appearance of wrinkles by holding moisture and plumping up the skin.
All skin needs some form of moisturizer, even your Kapha type. Believe it or not, rather than aggravate oily skin, using Ayurvedic moisturizers can help to quiet overactive oil glands. That's because they work differently than pore-clogging commercial moisturizers. The skin can absorb chemicals, and you want to be sure what you feed it is pure and nourishing on your skin and has a beneficial effect on your dosha<s>. The moisturizing/nourishing formulas included in this chapter are made of pure, natural ingredients selected for your skin type because of their ability to balance the doshas.
The Problem With Commercial Exfoliants and Peels
Healthy growing skin requires dead cells to be removed or exfoliated daily. The Ayurvedic herbal powders and creamy cleansers provided in this chapter gently exfoliate as they cleanse, without stripping away natural moisture. They are preferable to commercial scrubbers, which contain synthetic chemicals and abrasive particles that can be too harsh for most skins, especially if used regularly.
Ayurveda also recommends against the frequent use of commercial chemical "peels" such as retin-A, alphahydroxy acid, or glycolic acid. Although they are effective exfoliants, these products are too harsh and usually contain a synthetic form of these chemicals. <v><vk>They are particularly drying for your vata skin if used daily.</v></vk> <pv>They are particularly drying and irritating for your pitta-vata skin if used daily. They are particularly irritating for your pitta skin if used daily.A better alternative is pure apple, lemon, or papaya juice mixed with water, but even those may prove too strong for delicate skin. The masks we provide in this guide are a safer bet.
IN the next blog I will publish the recipes from my book Effortless Beauty.
See you there.
The following Daily Skin Care Routines are designed to counteract the everyday effects of stress, environment, and time on your skin so that you can maintain what you have and relieve minor problems. Give these routines at least three to four weeks before judging their effectiveness, because the skin needs 21 to 28 days to renew itself. The routines contain only two steps and require only two cosmetic formulas: a cleanser/exfoliant and a moisturizer/nourisher.
Remember, just because something is natural, it doesn't mean it's hypoallergenic, as anyone allergic to pollen can attest. If you tend toward allergies, do a sensitivity test before using any of the formulas recommended here. Make the skin care product, following the recipe, and apply a small amount to the inside of your elbow or forearm. Leave it on for twenty-four hours—if you do not see a reaction, you can safely use the formula. If you do notice a rash, you can test each ingredient separately (mix herbal powders with water to form a paste, and dilute essential oils with a base oil)and, once you've determined the culprit, eliminate it from the formula.
